Laundry detergents are, of course, well known. Such compositions commonly use an alkyl ethoxysulfate having an alkyl chain of 12-14 carbons and about 2-3 moles of ethylene oxide (EO) as an anionic surfactant. Such compositions will also usually include an ethoxylated alcohol chain having a chain of 12-18 carbon atoms and 5-9 moles of EO as the non-ionic surfactant component. While proven useful as detergents, one disadvantage of traditional alkyl ethoxysulfates used in conventional detergent compositions is their limited usefulness in maintaining fabric whiteness. During a typical laundry wash cycle, soils and dyes are detached from fabric fibers and placed in solution. During the cycle, small amounts of the removed soil and dyes may be redeposited onto the fabric, which decreases fabric whiteness and makes the fabric appear dull. Maintaining fabric whiteness is particularly valuable to consumers in that it increases the longevity of the laundered fabric by allowing it to look like new longer.
Another disadvantage which can be experienced through the use of conventional alkyl ethoxysulfates relates to color. For example, conventional alkyl ethoxysulfates are usually yellow in color, often due to impurities resulting from sulfation. Since most liquid detergents are blue in color, when such ethoxysulfates are used in higher concentrations, the resulting detergent product maybe greenish in color.